With the exception of some great individual performances, Manly had a relatively disappointing weekend of cricket, especially with the bat against the ever-consistent St George outfit. 1st Grade toiled hard for a brilliant win off the back of Ahillen Beadle’s heroics while 2nd Grade struggled with the bat to leave themselves an uphill battle that St George capitalised on. 3rd Grade had a heartbreaker of a day with a team-wide performance with the ball to almost pull off a miracle win after another lacklustre batting display. 4th Grade never quite had enough runs on the board despite skipper Max Burgess (45) leading from the front, with St George surpassing the target of 160 only 4 down. 5th Grade were steered by Dom Wheeler’s excellent 70, a classy all-round contribution from Will Akhurst (39* and 2-14) and yet another excellent spell by young Ben Watts’ with 3-30 to get a comprehensive win.
This week’s 4 Pines Player of the Week Award goes to a player who performed what will undoubtedly be one of the individual highlights of the season. In 1st Grade’s 2-day fixture against St George, Ahillen Beadle held together the innings for the Tahs on a difficult wicket, scoring a crucial 109 out of the total 278 on day one.
1st Grade St George 237 (A. Beadly 5-64, J. Graham 5-82) ) def by Manly 289 (A. Beadle 109, A. Crosthwaite 52, J. Crosthwaite 32, T. Beatty 30)
It was a warm Saturday when the Waratahs turned up to Manly oval. There had been a bit of rain around during the week which was shown in the pitch inspection. St. George won the toss and decided to send Manly in on the black wicket. We batted well in the first hour, battling through seam deviation and inconsistency in bounce. Jarrod Rawlings eventually fell just before drinks bringing Adam Crosthwaite to the crease. He and his brother James batted well until a left arm orthodox bowler dismissed James and Jay in quick succession to take us to lunch. Our innings hung precariously at 3/50 when Ahillen and Adam came together. They managed to put on 97 together which stabilised the innings. Adam struggled through a shoulder injury to be dismissed just after tea for 52. Ahillen kept compiling runs and kept the score moving despite regularly losing partners. Eventually he compiled his 10th first grade century. A brilliant effort. The tail wagged and we were dismissed for 278.
The medium fast bowling club (MFBC) of manly first grade were licking their lips at the sight of the wicket the previous day. Upon arrival, they were very disappointed at pitch inspection. The pitch had dried out and wouldn’t offer the pacers much assistance. The MFBC bowled well early with the new ball. Restricting the St. George batting line up who then looked to score against the spinners when they came into the attack. Joey Graham was the first spinner to take to the crease and was immediately rewarded with two quick wickets. He toiled for a 3rd but the Waratahs went into the lunch break with St. George 3/50, reminiscent of the Waratahs’ start on the previous day. The middle session proved tough until half an hour before tea where Ahillen Beadle came to the party and took a couple of poles to break the big partnership of St. George. Joey and AB bowled beautifully for the rest of the afternoon to clean up the entire line-up with 15 minutes of play left in the day. Both deserving their five wicket hauls.
A great win to the Waratahs. Incredibly, AB finished the game with a century and a five wicket haul. It was a shame he couldn’t pull off the quaddie but an outstanding effort nonetheless.
Taylor Beatty
2nd Grade St George 2/112 (T. Kaye 1-17, D. Marshall 1-33) def Manly 107 (L. Weston 31, O. Davies 16)
The Manly boys rocked up at Hurstville ready to knock St George off and keen for another win. Skipper jack Ritchie (Cubby) lost the toss and Manly were sent in on a wicket that would be tough to bat on. Logan and Billy D got us off to a good start having us 0 – 40 and it was looking like a good start till Billy D was removed trying to pull one. The wickets started to fall after the first wicket with Manly losing 10 – 64. No-one seemed to get themselves in after the opening partnership with Logan Weston top scoring with 31.
Manly came out to the field with the belief that 107 was enough, especially with a hard wicket to bat on. St George got off to a good start with Manly taking their first wicket on 37 runs thanks to Tom Kaye, with Dylan Marshall picked up Manly’s second wicket 30 runs later. It wasn’t to be however with St George chaseing down Manly’s total of 107 only 2 down with 23 overs to spare.
A tough day out for the boys, but we’re looking to bounce back bigger and better against Fairfield, back in the 2-day format.
Ollie
3rd Grade – Manly 142 def by St George 9/144
Another toss won when the decision wasn’t easy. Heavy dew somewhat offset by the overcast conditions. The pitch looked Ok so went with runs on the board. The outfield was recently top dressed and was painfully slow and runs were hard to come by.
Webber (0) edged into the slips and Wolter (10) banged a few balls around for twos before going hard at a full pitch delivery only to hear the death rattle. 2/16. Daly (9) and Cruikshank (8) looked to give us a platform but both were out when we were on 30, Jordan not offering and Tim having his off bail removed. 4/30.
Crombie (8) , Ned (7) and RBP (0) all found it tough. Runs were trickling and when Evans (24) and Virdi (40) joined up we were a pathetic 7/55 off 33 overs. These two though got things moving, Ash enjoying the opportunity to establish himself and dig us out of trouble. Going aerial saw both blokes clear the boundary and their 51 run partnership in 11 overs was badly needed. Evans out to a sharp low C&b and when Ash fell soon after to make it 9/117 from 46 we were hoping to scrape a few more. Alexander (17no) and Wilson (12no) both batted very well, knocking it around and gave us an under par but competitive enough 142.
RBP (3/29 from 10) gave us a perfect start with a ferocious opening spell that resulted in a good catch to Will Wolter in the covers. Wilson (1/26 from 9.4) was unlucky to not get an early one with an edge into gully going down. When Crombie (2/23 from 10) bowled a bloke and then an LBW we had Saints in trouble. Evans (2/20 from 10) applied the brakes as well and we had them in all sorts. Going slowly against disciplined bowling and energetic fielding.
When RBP came on for a 3 over burst he knocked over two blokes with great full pitch deliveries to make it 7/76 from 35. (Ryan’s bowling in particular is worth a mention, especially given that he was still recovering from illness. He bowled with pace and accuracy whenever he came on and really looked a cut above.) This wasn’t going to be easy though as their two blokes dug in and scored from anything loose. Our 5th set of 10 overs was shared between Alexander (0/19 from 4), Ned (0/21 from 5) and Ash (0/4 from 1) who’s first over of pace in nearly 4 months was exceptionally effective considering the pressure and overall match situation.
A neat catch from Alexander at square leg from Wilson and a hectic run out left Saints with 6 to win in the last over, 9 down. The opportunity came on the 3rd ball from Brad’s over but the well hit shot was grassed by the old bloke at mid wicket fielding out of position. No names, but in his 31 years of grade cricket he has NEVER felt so bad, knowing this was season turning. Instead of sitting just inside the 6 we are now 10 points adrift with 3 games to play. Unfortunately this game did come down to one ball but to collapse yet again was very disappointing.
WE
4th Grade – St George 4/160 (B. Falconer 2-34, W. Outred 1-8) def Manly 9/159 (M. Burgess 45, D. McKenna 29)
The boys arrived at Harold Fraser oval, ready for a tough match against St George who was sitting in 4th. The pitch was good and Maxy won the toss so we batted first.
Wilba and Gumms started well and we were none for 40 before Wilba (15) got caught at point just before drinks, their bowlers were bowling well and the runs weren’t coming easy. Matt (0) went cheaply just after drinks, Isaiah joined Gumms, before Gumms (25) was stumped to one of their spinners, Zach (0) joined Isaiah before also getting stumped to one of their spinners, after Maxy joined Isaiah (12) a slight mix up left Isaiah run out. Needing a rebuild Maxy batted well with Nick to steady the ship before Nick (6) was caught at cover. At this stage we were about 7/86. Dan joined Maxy (45) for a crucial partnership, the pair put on 50 odd before Dan (29) was caught, we went hard at the end to get our total to a defendable 159 against a solid bowling effort from St George.
We started superbly in the field with Falcs bowling their opener 1st over and then getting the other opener caught behind in his 2nd over. At 2/15 their number 4 came in and steadied the ship until drinks 2/51. 1st over after drinks Jacob had their number 4 LBW. After that it was a story of missed opportunities with three chances gone begging in the space of two overs which on another day could have all been taken. Their batsmen whilst streaky were positive and always had us under pressure, we fought hard for the fourth wicket where Jacob took an absolute blinder in which the whole team was most certainly backing the ball off Wilba’s bowling, to have them 4/135, unfortunately for the Manly boys they managed to chase the score 4 down in the 45th over.
Unlucky boys, big game next week to get back in the Finals hunt. Go Manly.
Matt Brewster
5th Grade – Manly 6/220 (D. Wheeler 70, W. Akhurst 39*, M. Edwards 37, S. Hole 35) def St George 146 (B. Watts, 3-31, W. Akhurst 2-14)
Most of 5’s arrived bright and early at Mick Pawley, eager to get our one day record back on track against a 2nd placed St George outfit. The bottom 5 finally hit some form in our warm up touch game, not the start our top 6 needed as we’d soon lost the toss and were preparing to tackle our 50 overs on a seriously interesting pitch alongside a wet, slow outfield.
Anderson and Cohen were patient early and played the conditions as well as could be asked. Dom Wheeler again showed his ability to dig in at the right time putting together a brilliant 70 with support from Sam Hole (35) in his first game back for the Tah’s, while Cult Hero Mickey Edwards helped himself to 37 in a continuation of form. With a healthy platform and wickets in hand Will Akhurst was able to see himself in and send St George’s closing overs to all parts of the ground with a dominant 39*.
Posting a formidable 6/220, disciplined bowling would all but guarantee the game. Counsell and Archer made a tidy start as the heat proved short spells to be key from the quicks. While Jacob O’Sullivan took wickets through his bowling and fielding, Akhurst continued to show easy a game it is for some, taking 2/14 off 6. St George’s day was looking grim at best. With a bonus point on the cards Ben Watts and Jonah Anderson tore through the middle and lower order to wrap up a comprehensive win.
Michael Counsell
